written with the sincerity becoming a Christian, and with the erudition becoming a translator and a commentator on so important a book. BISHOP WATSON: Letter to the Duke of Grafton; in Life of Watson, pp. 492-3.

It is a well-known fact that Thomas Belsham was the principal editor of this work. Notwithstanding all that has been said of it by orthodox writers as the representative of Unitarian interpretations, neither the version, which was founded on that of Archbishop Newcome, nor the notes, however valuable, have been regarded by Unitarians in general as an authority binding on them.

My previous impressions of his [Dr. Lant Carpenter's] amiable and upright character have been strengthened by the perusal of his work [entitled, "An Examination of Charges against Unitarians and Unitarianism"]. His candor, integrity, and good temper, besides his intellectual ability, give to his writings an immense advantage over the imbecile arrogance, the rash crudities, and the still more dishonorable artifices, of some persons on whom he has felt himself called to animadvert. — JOHN PYE SMITH: Scripture Testimony, vol. ii. p. 476, fourth edition.

Dr. SMITH's concluding remarks evidently refer, in particular, to Archbishop Magee, whose Postscript to his work on the Atonement is dishonorably distinguished by the foulest injustice to the character and talents of English Unitarians.

When we see a fellow-man and fellow-sinner, whose character is adorned, not only with blameless morals and with those honorable decencies of life to which the world pays homage, but with untiring activity in excellent deeds, warm-hearted beneficence, exemplary virtue in all the walks of life, and the clearest evidence, to those who possess full and close opportunities for the observation, of constant "walking with God," not in the solemnities of public worship only, but in the family and the most retired privacy; and when this habit of life has been sustained, with unaffected simplicity and uncompromising constancy, during a life long, active, and exposed to searching observation;

when such a character is presented to our view, it would warrant the suspicion of an obtuse understanding, or, what is worse, a cold heart, not to resemble Barnabas, "who, when he came and saw the grace of God, was glad; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” We have been led almost unavoidably into this train of reflections, by opening the volume before us ["Sermons on Practical Subjects, by the late Lant Carpenter, LL.D.”], and under

the influence of high personal regard to its author. In that feeling we only participate with many both of orthodox Dissenters and the evangelical members of the Establishment. It was scarcely possible for an upright person to know Dr. Carpenter, and not to love and venerate him. Eclectic Review for June, 1841; new series, vol. ix.

pp. 669-70.

In the same Review for February, 1843 (vol. xiii. pp. 205–19), may be seen an article occasioned by the publication of the "Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Carpenter." It is written in a liberal and Christian spirit; and, though widely differing from Carpenter in the religious opinions which he held, the author expresses the warmest reverence for the character of that excellent man.

When the day comes when honor will be done to whom honor is due, he [Dr. GUTHRIE] can fancy the crowd of those whose fame poets have sung, and to whose memory monuments have been raised, dividing like a wave; and, passing the great and the noble and the mighty of the land, this poor, obscure old man stepping forward, and receiving the especial notice of Him who said, "Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these, ye did it also to me.” Extract from Speech delivered by the Rev. Dr. Guthrie, at Edinburgh, February, 1855; apud London Inquirer.

Dr. GUTHRIE, who is one of the influential ministers of the Free Church of Scotland, refers to the late John Pounds, the Portsmouth cobbler, of philanthropic celebrity. This most worthy man, this friend of destitute and ignorant children, is known in England to have held Unitarian views.

The late Mr. Buckminster, of Boston, ... was one of the most accomplished scholars of his age. DR. GARDINER SPRING: First Things, vol. ii. p. 357.

Dr. Channing was, notwithstanding the errors of his theological opinions, a beautiful specimen of a man, - warm, serious, philanthropic, calm, self-controlled, earnest, and often enthusiastic. With a refined taste, a love of letters, and a noble independence of mind, he joined a cultivated understanding, an effective style, and an admirable eloquence. Christian Review for June, 1848; vol. xiii. p. 305.

William Ellery Channing was what all orthodox believers will admit to be much better [than a Socinian]: he was an Arian, and a very high one; but, more than this, he was a man of purest sincerity, of profound humility, and universal charity. Channing must, in fact, be admitted to have been either a saint or a hypocrite; and the man who, after a personal acquaintance with him, or the reading of his works

and biography, is prepared to say he was a hypocrite, may be assured that he is not much unfitted to be one himself. — ABEL STEVENS, in Methodist Quarterly Review for January, 1849.

Whatever kind of Arianism Channing may have professed to hold, we are inclined to believe, that, though he did not sympathize either with the religious tenets of Socinus or with the philosophic speculations of Priestley and Belsham, his writings in general are pervaded by the doctrine, — which appears to be less esteemed than formerly by American Unitarians, but which, whether true or not, is consistent with the loftiest conceptions of the mission and character of Christ,—that our Lord was, while on earth, whatever he may have previously been in heaven, a human being, not merely in the properties of his body, but in the faculties and affections of his soul. Instead of saying that Channing was either an Arian or a Socinian, it would be perhaps more correct to speak of him simply as a Unitarian Christian. This remark is made only by way of correcting what we think to be a mistake, which does not lessen the value or truth of the eulogium paid by the writer to the purity and liberality of Channing's character.

We have no sympathy with the distinguishing elements of his creed [the creed of Henry Ware, jun.]; we believe it to be unscriptural; yet, when we see constantly appearing his self-condemnation, his sense of unworthiness, his reverence of God, his efforts to do good to men's souls, his submission to the most painful allotments of Providence, his calmness and joy in the prospect of death, following an unusually spotless and serious life, we cannot find it in our heart to condemn him "because he followeth not with us.”. Christian Review

for May, 1846; vol. xi. p. 148.

A true, faithful daughter, wife, mother, friend; with no eccentricities, no extravagances, no marvellous qualities of head or hand; but with an honest truthfulness of nature, a willing spirit of self-sacrifice, and an ever-loving heart, such was Mary L. Ware. . . . . It is by such women that woman's rights are best vindicated by the steadfast performance of women's duties. Mrs. Ware's religious life was pure and unspotted; and, had she lived in a warmer atmosphere of Christian feeling, she would have been a model, besides, of Christian experience. Methodist Quarterly Review for July, 1853; fourth series, vol. v.

p. 314.

No translation has appeared in England, since that of Isaiah by Lowth, which can sustain a reputable comparison with that of the book of Job by Mr. Noyes. With some slight exceptions, this latter is very much what we could wish it to be. Spirit of the Pilgrims for February, 1829; vol. ii. p. 93.

The volume which bears the title given above ["The Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels, by Andrews Norton; vol. 1; Boston, 1837"] is certainly a production of no ordinary stamp, and is a phenomenon in our literary hemisphere which ought to excite much interest. ... Mr. Norton has cleared himself most explicitly and fully from the charge that has sometimes been made against him, viz., that he is a Naturalist, or a so-called Rationalist of the lowest order. That the Saviour is a teacher from God, and endued with miraculous powers, is what he openly declares himself to believe. MOSES STUART, in Biblical Repository for April, 1838; vol. xi. pp. 265, 287.

Professor Norton's work [on the Genuineness of the Gospels] ... is highly honorable to the writer's learning and diligence; and, as the American edition was dear and very scarce, we are not surprised that it should be republished in London. [After expressing his dissatisfaction with Mr. Norton's views respecting the books of the Old Testament, the reviewer proceeds:] It is but justice to the author to say, at the same time, that some of his suggestions are worthy of consideration; proceeding, as they apparently do, from a mind of independent habits, richly furnished, and patient in the pursuit of truth. It is our notion that the cause of Orthodoxy will be better served by calmly examining what he says, than by hastily denouncing him as an unbeliever. Eclectic Review for April, 1848; new series, vol. xxiii. pp. 437–9.

§ 2. UNITARIANS IN GENERAL.

Socinus and his followers, being great masters of reason, and deeply learned in matters of morality, mingle almost all religion with it, and form religion purely to the model and platform of it. - SIR MATTHEW HALE: A Discourse of Religion, p. 27.

They [the Perfectionists] live strictly, and in many things speak rationally, and in some things very confidently. They excel the Socinians in the strictness of their doctrine, but, in my opinion, fall extremely short of them in their expositions of the practical Scripture. JEREMY TAYLOR: Letter to Evelyn; Works, vol. i. p. lxxxv.

Yet to do right to the writers on that [the Socinian] side, I must own, that generally they are a pattern of the fair way of disputing, and of debating matters of religion without heat and unseemly reflections upon their adversaries. . . . They generally argue matters with that temper and gravity, and with that freedom from passion and

transport, which becomes a serious and weighty argument; and, for the most part, they reason closely and clearly, with extraordinary guard and caution, with great dexterity and decency, and yet with smartness and subtilty enough; with a very gentle heat and few hard words, — virtues to be praised wherever they are found, yea, even in an enemy, and very worthy our imitation. In a word, they are the strongest managers of a weak cause, and which is ill founded at the bottom, that perhaps ever yet meddled with controversy; insomuch that some of the Protestants and the generality of the Popish writers, and even of the Jesuits themselves, who pretend to all the reason and subtilty in the world, are, in comparison of them, but mere scolds and bunglers. ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON: Sermon 44; in

Works, vol. iii. pp. 197–8.

I must also do this right to the Unitarians as to own, that their rules in morality are exact and severe; that they are generally men of probity, justice, and charity, and seem to be very much in earnest in pressing the obligations to very high degrees in virtue. - BISHOP BURNET, as quoted by Adam, in Relig. World Displayed, vol. ii. p. 173.

See also Life of Burnet, by his son; prefixed to the "History of His Own Time,” vol. i. p. xi. In the passage here referred to, his biographer says that in 1664 the Bishop went to Holland, and became acquainted with the leading Dutch Arminians, Lutherans, Unitarians, &c.; "amongst each of whom, he used frequently to declare, he had met with men of such real piety and virtue" that he became fixed in his principle of universal charity.

In stating and describing the duties of men, they [the Polish Socinians] were obliged to be uncommonly rigorous, because they maintained that the object for which God sent Jesus Christ into the world was to promulgate a most perfect law. . . . Here also we unexpectedly meet with this singularity, that, while on other subjects they boldly offer the greatest violence to the language of the sacred writers in order to obtain support for their doctrines, they require that whatever is found in the Scriptures relating to the life and to morals should be understood and construed in the most simple and literal manner. J. L. MOSHEIM: Ecclesiastical History, book iv. cent. xvi. sect. 3, part 2, chap. 4, § 18.

In the honest exercise of the reasoning powers with which God endowed them, the Polish Unitarians, so "uncommonly rigorous" in the inculcation and practice of the moral duties of the gospel, came to a different conclusion in religious matters from other Protestant churches; and therefore they "boldly offered the greatest violence to the language of the sacred writers."